Tag Archives: Outback Australia

If you have come across my blog then you may of noticed that I have started to cover the great west in Australia, what we call the Outback! Why do we call it this?

Image via WikipediaWhy do we call it this?

Well, because it’s out the back from the coast and hinterlands!

Photo right: Opal mining the plain that surrounds opal ridge!

It’s not always all red sand and desert! No, at time this place gets so green that you just wouldn’t think it was the same place.

Actually after all the rain we have had this last year the place is well and truly thriving! Actually it looks so good that they cancelled the latest Mad Max movie and moved it to South Africa!

Anyway, I have some more really cool content for you below!

Enjoy!

Outback Australia – Land of Challenges and Opals

Though the Outback may look like vast barren desert, it’s not always dry out west. In fact, in a good season, Lightning Ridge can be very wet and muddy. There’s a saying that goes this way, “Stick to the black soil in the dry season and it’ll stick to you in the wet.” As it stands, at this time of writing 2011 we have had the largest floods in recorded history. At present a lot of the opal fields are full of water.

No truer words have been spoken. Black soil makes a dusty but quite smooth road when it’s dry, but is nearly impossible to travel when it’s wet. It slips worse than snow.

There is a beautiful highway that links the continent right through the middle. Some sections are so long and straight, you could read a book while driving–this practice is not recommended, however.

Opal gems are not the only colors in Outback Australia

A mixture of dust and Outback climate produce some unbelievable sunsets. The evening sky blazes with warm colours, often highlighted by bands of deeper hues. Where the sky meets the ground, the stark silhouettes of individual trees, shrubs, boulders, and isolated dwellings stand out against the backdrop of colour.

One miner at Yowah has compiled a photographic book of these sunsets, each of which is unique.

Winter nights are magnificent in the Outback Australia. There’s always plenty of mulga wood to burn. You have to experience a campfire in the outback on a chilly evening, with the Milky Way spread out before you, to know what I mean by “out of this world.” A few friends around a campfire just caps it off, especially if someone is playing the guitar accompanied by a mouth organ (harmonica), and lots of bush yarns (stories).

Even the mundane experience of visiting an outdoor toilet at night can be awe-inspiring. Looking up at the sky from your roofless outhouse, you ponder how long it takes to get from one end of the Milky Way to the other. The astronomers say it would take 100,000 years travelling at the speed of light.Add to this, the intrique of finding an opal and you have the perfect situation.

Yes, the land west of the coast sure is a unique place. I have traveled there a few times myself and flew over it in a plane and have fantastic memories. If you have read about Australia and what it has to offer then you would have some idea, but believe me you really have to visit to truly understand this great land and true blue Aussie hospitality!